[Covenanted Reformation] Re: Covenanter Groups/Two-Tierd Membership

It is the Lord s Table, and as such, Christ s ministers are made the stewards of this mystery. Even if one would agree with your criteria, belief in Christ,

Message 1 of 33
, Jan 21, 2006

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It is the Lord's Table, and as such, Christ's ministers are made the
stewards of this mystery. Even if one would agree with your criteria,
belief in Christ, the question then becomes how do you determine who
believes in Christ and who does not? What if they say the believe in
Christ, but don't believe in the Trinity? What if they say the
believe in Christ, but are manifest adulterers? Therefore:

Westminster Larger Catechism--

Q173: May any who profess the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's
supper, be kept from it?

A173: Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding
their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's
supper, may and ought to be kept from that sacrament, by the power
which Christ hath left in his church,[1] until they receive
instruction, and manifest their reformation.[2]

A81: Those who are displeased with themselves for their sins, yet
trust that these are forgiven them, and that their remaining infirmity
is covered by the suffering and death of Christ; who also desire more
and more to strengthen their faith and to amend their life. But the
impenitent and hypocrites eat and drink judgment to themselves.[1]

Q82: Are they, then, also to be admitted to this Supper who show
themselves by their confession and life to be unbelieving and ungodly?

A82: No, for thereby the covenant of God is profaned and His wrath
provoked against the whole congregation;[1] therefore, the Christian
Church is bound, according to the order of Christ and His Apostles, to
exclude such persons by the Office of the Keys until they amend their
lives.

Guys, I see better now what Christopher s point was all along. It is not that we have (like in Bacon s church) a practice of differing requirements for the

Message 33 of 33
, Jan 21, 2006

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Guys,

I see better now what Christopher's point was all along. It is not
that we have (like in Bacon's church) a practice of differing
requirements for the Lord's supper depending on whether you are a
member, elder, or non-member, but that we have a distinction between a
member of our church and a member who has sustained their examination
to come to the Lord's supper. Whether we have erred in this respect or
not, I am not certain.

But I do know that if you allow children of members to be considered
members of our church and under the love, fellowship, oversight, and
discipline of the church, and able to be baptized, and receive family
visits by the elders, all while being in a state of ignorance and not
able to sustain their examination to come to the Lord's table...

then it seems that as long as a person is like a child in the faith,
even though in secular respects an adult, they can be members of a
church but not ready to come to the Lord's table and partake on the
sacrament. An obedient child lives a blameless life, and is working
towards attaining the knowledge and understanding needing to come
worthily to the Lord's supper; the seeking of that state is a moral
duty of all Christians.

"I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it."
1 Corinthians 3:2

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need
milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in
the word of righteousness, since he is a child." Hebrews 5:12-13

Christ's elders have to minister to all sorts of people, the weaker
and the stronger, and the children on the one hand and the men in the
faith on the other. Maybe this won't satisfy you, especially if you
think historical testimony of the Church of Scotland in her faithful
days is against us. And maybe the RPNA has erred and needs to reform.
But I don't totally see that.

Can a recent adult convert out of heathenism be baptized and under the
authority of the elders without being a member of the church? It
doesn't make much sense to me. But surely we don't withhold baptism
or formal elder oversight until the person is brought up to speed on
the Reformation from Popery, the Westminster Standards, the nature and
practice of covenanting, and why our church keeps itself separate from
all the denominations? It seems pretty clear to me that the church
takes these people in as like unto children and trains them up in the
way they should go.

>
> Christopher,
>
> I'm not in the RPNA, and as I mentioned in previous posts, I don't

quite

> understand their position on the two-tiered membership (I've been
> pointed towards materials to read, which I'll get to when I have

time).

> I do know that in the past, RP's have given out tokens to those who

have

> been examined and found worthy of partaking. This assumes that some
> members may not be admitted to the Lord's Table for reasons touched on
> in the Catechism questions provided. But outside of that, I guess I
> have the same question that you have. What is this initial membership
> that is not communicant membership? Is it like being a Catechumen in
> the early church? I'm still trying to figue this all out myself.
>
> gmw.
>
> trygvesson@a... wrote:
>
> > *In a message dated 1/21/2006 9:12:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> > raging.calvinist@v... writes:*
> > "This is why some Churches "fence" the Table, and refrain from

serving

> > it to those who are found to be ignorant, scandalous,

impenitentand/or

> > hypocrites. To do so, requires some examination.
> >
> > gmw."
> >
> >
> > *Gerry,*
> >
> > *Perhaps you will be able to answer this. Now, I agree with fencing
> > the table and session controlled communion, and in an age when the
> > standards of the church are more distinct from other denominations

and

> > we do not have similar or duplicate denominations as we do now [take
> > the RPCNA, RPCS, and the RPCI for example] I agree with close

communion. *

> > **
> > *What I do not understand is, if I am reading recent posts rightly,
> > how can an adult be interviewed and admitted to membership in the